Group Members

Prof. Stefan Guldin
PhD CEng FHEA FInstP FRSC

Professor, Technical University of Munich

guldin(at)tum.de 

Natan Abelian

Doctoral Researcher (TUMcreate / Singapore)

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Natan recently joined the Proteins4Singapore project in Singapore in February 2025 to pursue his doctoral research on applying structure formation principles in soft matter to the development of meat analogues. 

He holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from UCL, where he completed his final-year research project in the AdReNa (UCL) group, focusing on the analysis of microporous thin-film coatings using ellipsometric porosimetry (with Klara Burdova).

Aishath Nisha Naeem

Doctoral Researcher (London)

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Nisha began her PhD in October 2021 after receiving the EPSRC DTP studentship via the Open Doctoral Studentships competition Her research explores monolithic integrated electrochemical sensing systems for diagnostics and monitoring under co-supervision of Dr Sara Ghoreishizadeh (link).

She earned her MEng in Bioengineering from Imperial College London in 2016, developing a microfluidic platform for bile acid detection. During her undergraduate placement with Imperial’s Biosensors Group, she worked on needle-based glutamate sensors. Following her degree, she worked as a biomedical engineer at Medtech Maldives Pvt Ltd, receiving technical training from leading companies including Abbott Diagnostics, B. Braun, and Medtronic.

Esther Osarfo-Mensah

Doctoral Researcher (London)

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Esther joined AdReNa (UCL) in September 2020 as part of the Advanced Characterisation of Materials CDT. Her research focuses on competitive interactions and binding selectivity at bio-nano interfaces.

She holds an MChem in Chemistry with Study Year Abroad from the University of Bath. Her final-year project explored Janus gold nanoparticles at DPPC phospholipid monolayers, and during her Erasmus year at the University of Bordeaux, she studied ionic particles using molecular spectroscopy. Before starting her PhD, Esther worked for six years in science communication and education outreach at the Science Museum in London and the Francis Crick Institute.

Jialin Gu

Doctoral Researcher (London)

Jialin first joined the AdReNa (UCL) Lab for his MSc research project on 3D nanostructures formed by block copolymer iterative self-assembly for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. In July 2022, he began his doctoral studies, focusing on mesoporous architectures for electrochemical energy storage co-supervised by Dr Tom Miller (link).

He holds an MSc in Chemical Process Engineering from UCL, graduating in 2021.

Kelvin Wong

Doctoral Researcher (London)

Kelvin joined AdReNa (UCL) in September 2022 as a PhD student working on "Biomimetic Colloid Science." His research explores complex colloidal phenomena in nature using functionalized gold nanoparticles as a model system co-supervised by Dr Keith Butler (link). 

He graduated with a B.Eng in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2021. Following this, he worked as a Research Engineer at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, where he developed a low-energy, bottom-up synthesis method for nanoparticulate amorphous solid dispersions. His work bridges biomimicry and colloid science to better understand and replicate nature-inspired materials and processes.

Ruiyan Gao

Doctoral Researcher (London)

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Ruiyan joined the group in October 2023 as a PhD student under the primary supervision of Dr Diego Lopez Barreiro. His research focuses on enhancing the performance and sustainability of biosensing platforms through the use of recombinant structural proteins.

He holds an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London (2022) and an MSc in Biochemical Engineering from University College London (2023).

Yueyang Gao

Doctoral Researcher (London)

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Yueyang joined the AdReNa (UCL) group in September 2022 to begin his PhD, supported by the UCL Dean’s Prize in the Faculty of Engineering Sciences and a UCL-CSC joint scholarship. His research focuses on developing integrated workflows for nanomaterial optimisation, combining lab automation, high-throughput characterisation, and data science. He is co-supervised by Dr Max Besenhard (link). 

Yueyang has a cross-disciplinary background in chemical engineering and programming for electronic devices (Arduino, Python, and related tools). He holds a BEng and an MRes in Chemical Engineering from Beijing University and Tianjin University, respectively.

Dr Máté Füredi (2021-2024)

Doctoral Researcher

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Máté joined the group on a collaborative project between AdReNa (UCL) and the optical metrology manufacturer Semilab. He was awarded a PhD for his work on “Ellipsometry-based in-situ and in-operando characterisation of nanoscale electrode and sensor materials”

Máté holds a BSc and MSc in Chemical Engineering from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics and a PhD from UCL.

After his graduation, he joined Semilab as an Application Physicist.

Dr Ke Meng (2019-2024)

Doctoral Researcher

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Ke joined AdReNa (UCL) in 2019 as part of the Doctoral Training Centre in Advanced Materials Characterisation. He earned his PhD for work on block copolymer membranes for purifying complex macromolecules, including viral vectors for gene therapy. 

Ke holds a BEng (First Class Honours) in Biochemical Engineering from UCL, an MSc (Distinction) from Imperial College London and a PhD from UCL.. Before his PhD, he worked as a process engineer at Henlius Biotech, contributing to the launch of China’s first biosimilar, HLX01.

Lisa Pfaffenrath (2021-2023)

Inclusion Lead Public & Patient Involvement & Engagement

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Lisa was part of AdReNa (UCL) between 2021 and 2023, supporting stakeholder engagement for the NIHR-funded ChromaDose project as Inclusion and Engagement Lead for Public and Patient Involvement. Her work focused on involving parents, children, and the wider public in research. More about her contributions can be found on the ChromaDose website (link).

Originally trained as a primary school teacher, Lisa spent over a decade teaching in mainstream and special needs settings across the UK, Switzerland, and Germany. She later completed an MA in Special and Inclusive Education at UCL Institute of Education, graduating with distinction.

Dr Jugal Suthar (2016-2023)

Doctoral Researcher (2016-20) 

Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Invention for Innovation (2021-23)

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Jugal worked in our group in multiple roles. Initially as part of the CDT in Nanomedicine and Targeted Therapeutics, he completed a PhD on "Novel Biosensing Approaches for Detection of Exosomal Proteins" in a collaboration between the AdReNa (UCL) group and Prof Gareth Williams (UCL School of Pharmacy). Later, he took up a role as postdoctoral research fellow and project manager of the NIHR i4i project ChromaDose. 

Jugal is now at Vesynta as CEO and Co-Founder and holds an honorary Lectureship at UCL. 

Jugal is a registered pharmacist and holds an MPharm and PhD degree from UCL. 

Dr Maximiliano Jara Fornerod (2017-2023)

Doctoral Researcher (2017-2023)

Postdoctoral Researcher (2023)

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Max first joined the group during his MSc studies, contributing to projects on liquid crystal microfluidics and gold nanoparticle assembly for stretchable plasmonic mats. After working as a Senior Reliability Engineer at ENAP in Chile, he returned for a PhD on mesoporous nanoarchitectures for electrochemical biosensors.

In 2023, Max joined Prof Nicolas Voelcker’s group at Monash University and was awarded a prestigious SNSF Swiss Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at MIT with Ariel Furst.

He holds an Engineer’s Degree (highest distinction) and diploma from the University of Concepción, an MSc from EPFL and a PhD from UCL. 

Dr Alberto Alvarez Fernandez (2018-2023)

Research Fellow (2018-2021)

Senior Research Fellow (2022)

Visiting Researcher (2022/23)

Alberto joined AdReNa (UCL) in November 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher on the EPSRC project Block Copolymer-Enabled Mesopore Sensing, and was promoted to Senior Research Fellow in January 2022.

In November 2022, he began an ADMIRE MSCA Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin but remained affiliated with the group as a visiting researcher. He is currently a Gipuzkoa Fellow at the Materials Physics Center in San Sebastián, Spain.

Alberto earned his PhD from the University of Bordeaux, working on plasmonic nanostructured surfaces using block copolymers in a LabEx AMADEus collaboration between LCPO and CRPP.

Dr Alaric Taylor (2016-2023)

Research Fellow (2016-2020)

Visiting Researcher (2021-23)

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Alaric joined AdReNa (UCL) in 2016 as an EPSRC Research Fellow, co-mentored by Stefan and Prof. Ivan P. Parkin. His work focused on nanolithographic fabrication via colloidal monolayer self-assembly and later contributed to the EU H2020 DIACHEMO project, developing point-of-care microfluidic devices for therapeutic drug monitoring.

He is now Chief Technology Officer at the start-up Vesynta.

Alaric holds a PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from UCL, an MRes from the University of Cambridge, and a BSc in Physics from Imperial College London.

Tobias de Mendonca (2021-2022)

Analytical Scientist

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He worked with the AdReNa (UCL) group on analytical techniques for the quantification of chemotherapeutic drugs in small body fluid samples. 

Toby graduated from the University of Oxford (2020) with a Master's in Chemistry (MChem). 

Yann Mamie (2019-2022)

Research Engineer

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Yann was associated with AdReNa (UCL) in several roles, most recently as a visiting prototyping engineer through the AdReNa (UCL)  spin-out Vesynta Ltd. He previously worked on the prototyping and validation of an in-vitro diagnostic device for therapeutic drug monitoring. As an MSc student, he conducted his final-year research project in the group, investigating nanoparticle arrangements at the air–water interface of Langmuir–Blodgett troughs and exploring ellipsometry-based contact angle characterisation.

Yann holds an MSc in Materials Science and Engineering from EPFL.

Dr Mehzabin Patel (2016-2022)

Doctoral Researcher

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Mehzabin joined us on an EngD research project in 10/2016 as member of the EPSRC Doctoral Training Centre in Molecular Modelling and Materials Science in collaboration with BASF. She was working on soft matter-directed materials assembly and completed her PhD with a thesis titled "Liquid Crystal Microdroplets from Complex Binary Liquid Mixtures". 

Meanwhile, Mehzabin works as a Quality Assurance Analyst at Vesynta ltd. 

She holds a BSc and MSc in Chemistry from the University of Leicester and a PhD from UCL. 

Dr Clarissa Lorraine Grace Harman (2017-22)

Doctoral Researcher

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Clarissa completed her PhD within the CDT in Advanced Therapeutics and Nanomedicines, working on nanoparticle-based micro-assemblies for encapsulation and controlled release, in collaboration with the School of Pharmacy, Chemistry, and industrial partner Quotient Sciences. Her thesis was titled “Systematic Design of Magnetophoretic Pickering Emulsions”.

She is now an Associate Clinical Trial Manager at Medpace.

Clarissa holds an MChem from the University of Sheffield and a PhD from UCL.  

Dr Niamh Mac Fhionnlaoich (2015-2020)

Doctoral Researcher

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Niamh conducted doctoral research on the interplay between nanoparticles and liquid crystals and completed her PhD with a thesis titled "Stimuli-Responsive Liquid Crystal-Nanoparticle Composites". She was also instrumental in the development of many of the AdReNa (UCL) software tools for materials characterisation, including qTLC.app, Nanoparticle Entropy and CORDERLY.

Niamh now works as a research engineer at APC. 

Niamh studied chemical engineering at the University of California in Davis and received her B.Eng (1st class Hons) from the University College Dublin. She also holds a PhD from UCL.

Dr Ye Yang (2015-2020)

Doctoral Researcher (2015-2019)

Postdoctoral research fellow (2019-2020)

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Yang's history with AdReNa (UCL) lab is long and successful. He initially started working with Stefan during postgraduate research at EPFL, mainly focussing around the use of nanoparticle probes as supramolecular receptors for doxorubicin. Yang then joined our lab in 10/2015 on an UCL Graduate/Overseas Research Scholarship to work on ligand-shell mediated nanoparticle-stimuli interactions. After successful defence of his PhD thesis (title: "On the interplay of nanoparticles with small molecules"), he continued as postdoctoral research fellow on a CNIE inspiration grant before accepting a postion as senior scientist at Novozymes, Beijing.

Yang is now CEO and Co-Founder of Langmu Bio. He holds a B.Eng. from Tsinghua University, an MSc in Materials Science & Engineering from EPFL and a PhD from UCL.

Dr Barry Reid (2015-20)

Doctoral researcher

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Barry started his doctoral research in 05/2015 as AdReNa (UCL) lab PhD student #1 on an EPSRC Case Studentship with BASF. After highly productive doctoral research, he successfully defended his thesis titled "Block copolymer-directed Assembly of mesoporous inorganic architectures". In 2019 took up a research technician role in the department. 

Barry now works as a research technician in the Department of Chemical Engineering at UCL. 

He graduated with a First Class Honours B.Sci. in Analytic Science from Dublin City University and holds a Ph.D. from University College London.

Dr Lixu Yang (2018/19)

Postdoctoral research fellow

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Lixu joined the group in July 2018 on a CNIE inspiration grant to pursue independent research on converting plastic waste into functional materials using a supramolecular approach. 

She previously completed a postdoc with Prof. Neil Champness at the University of Nottingham (2013–2016), focusing on molecular self-assembly and rotaxane synthesis, and earned her PhD with Dr Scott Cockroft at the University of Edinburgh (2009–2013), studying non-covalent interactions. Lixu obtained her BSc in Chemistry from Nankai University (2004–2008), where she worked on molecular sensors in Prof. Yu Liu’s group.

She is now Assistant Professor at Chongqing University.

Dr Jakub Trzcinski (2018/19)

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Jakub joined the group in 2018 as a postdoctoral researcher on the EU H2020 DIACHEMO project, which focused on developing a point-of-care microfluidic device for quantifying chemotherapeutic drugs using nanoparticle extraction and liquid crystal detection. 

He now holds the position of Research Assistant Professor at Warsaw University of Technology.

Jakub obtained his PhD in the group of Enrico Dalcanale (University of Parma), where he designed a novel supramolecular receptor for benzene detection in air. Before joining UCL, he worked with Paolo Scrimin’s group at the University of Padova on gold and polymeric nanoparticles for nanomedical applications.

Dr Luis Antonio Serrano Gonzalez (2015-2017)

Postdoctoral Research Associate

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Luis was a postdoctoral research associate in the AdReNa (UCL)  group from August 2015 to November 2017, working on the EU H2020 DIACHEMO project, which developed a point-of-care microfluidic device for quantifying chemotherapeutic drugs using nanoparticle extraction and liquid crystal detection. 

He now works as a Senior Scientific Researcher at Natac. 

Luis holds a BSc (First Class Honours) from the University of Extremadura and a PhD from the University of Glasgow, where he worked with Graeme Cooke on the synthesis and characterisation of redox-active molecules for optoelectronic applications.

Dr Stuart Ibsen (2016/17)

Postdoctoral Research Associate

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Stuart worked with AdReNa (UCL) from April 2016 to September 2017 on a microfluidic platform for point-of-care diagnostics as part of the EU H2020 DIACHEMO project. 

He is now Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the School of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), and a member of CEDAR at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. 

Stuart holds a PhD in Bioengineering from the University of California San Diego (with Sadik Esener) and a PhD in Zoology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (with Paul Nachtigall and Whitlow Au).